


some of us are looking at the stars

by nineteenohtwo



Category: Andi Mack (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-17
Updated: 2019-01-03
Packaged: 2019-08-03 08:26:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 16,095
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16322726
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nineteenohtwo/pseuds/nineteenohtwo
Summary: “Andi, I love you, but you don’t understand. I am going to die,” Cyrus said, glaring at his schedule, as if it had betrayed him.“You have Potions with the Slytherins. That’s not a disaster, Cyrus,” Andi said in disbelief.Mandatory Hogwarts AU





	1. time to face the music

“Now, don’t be dramatic. I’m sure it won’t be that bad.”

“Andi, I love you, but you don’t understand. I am going to  _die_ ,” Cyrus said, glaring at his schedule, as if it had betrayed him.

“You have Potions with the Slytherins. That’s not a disaster, Cyrus,” Andi said in disbelief.

"I don't hate Slytherin house, but it’s a class you have to  _partner up_ in, Andi! You have the class with Jonah, Buffy _and_  Walker. I have no one!” Cyrus exclaimed, feeling sorry for himself.

“Hey!” Buffy interjected, throwing herself on the chair next to Andi and stealing a piece of toast from her plate. “You have us! What are we talking about?”

“Hufflepuff has Potions with Slytherin. First two hours on Monday. Clearly  _not_  how I envisioned my fourth year starting,” a disgruntled Cyrus said, very clearly not happy about the situation. “It’s the only class where I have none of my friends, and so I don’t have a Potions partner!”

“Isn’t Iris in Hufflepuff too? You guys are sort of friends, right?” Buffy asked.

“Yes, but she’s older, so she’s not in my class. I’m all alone.”

“Sorry buddy, seems like there is nothing you can do about it,” Buffy said, snagging another piece of Andi’s toast. “Anyway, Saturday are the try-outs for the Gryffindor Quidditch team, and this year I’m going to make chaser.” She looked around the table at the faces of her friends with a beaming smile, “I have been training all summer, and since Libby graduated last year, there’s an open spot that’s mine for the taking.”

“That’s wicked,” said Jonah, who sat down next to Andi, “I’m going to try out for beater. Maybe we will make the team together, that would be sick.”

“Wow, I am really happy for you guys,” Cyrus said without intonation, poking around in his oatmeal.

“Who pissed in his pumpkin juice-” Jonah started but was interrupted by Cyrus suddenly standing up.

He took a last bite of oatmeal and downed his pumpkin juice like it was a shot of liquid courage and swallowed.

“Time to face the music, I guess.”

 

-

 

The dungeons were wet, unpleasant and dark. Cyrus couldn’t really think of a place he wanted to be less. He had purposefully come earlier, so he wouldn’t be trampled by a herd of Slytherins on the narrow staircase. He walked down, watching his step so he wouldn’t slip, the torches on the wall truly only offered a minimal amount of light and the steps were wet from the moisture that hung in the air, so thick that he could almost taste it with every breath he took. He did not understand why they didn’t just move the Potions classroom upstairs, where the air did not smell like a thousand different potions mixed with the unpleasant scent of mouldy wet towels.

This hadn’t exactly been his favourite day.

He had had a rough summer without seeing any of his friends. The copious amount of letters and postcards they exchanged was only a tiny replacement for their company.

Andi had gotten off of the Hogwarts Express at King Cross and immediately onto the Eurostar, spending her summer in France with Bex and Bowie, touring the country on an epic road trip. She had owled him many times, every time including many pictures of herself sporting a beret, pictures of Bowie driving and singing along to the radio and pictures of various monuments, such as the Eiffel tower and the palace of Versailles.

Buffy had been ecstatic to hear that she had been accepted to a prestigious Quidditch training camp held in Norway by former Holyhead Harpies captain and famous beater Gwenog Jones. She had written letters upon letters detailing her experiences learning Quidditch from professional players and coaches. She had written an exceptionally star struck letter when Gwenog had complimented her on her sharp turns.

As for Jonah, he’d gone off on a family vacation in the south of Spain with his entire extended family. He had sent Cyrus many pictures of him tanning by a ginormous pool and having fun with his cousins. He had written a short letter on how nice it was in Spain, and which cool cities he had visited. Cyrus’ heart had made done a little somersault when he saw the pictures Jonah had included, even though he was sure his childhood crush on Jonah was mostly gone.

He arrived downstairs, pushed the heavy dungeon door open and entered his first lesson of the school year. Professor Slughorn was sat at his desk, eating sweets and looked up when he heard Cyrus come in.

“Ah, Goodman, as punctual as ever. How was your summer?” Professor Slughorn asked through a mouth of crystallised pineapple. He quickly swallowed and put the box in a drawer of his desk, before he stood up and wobbled over to Cyrus to shake his hand.

Slughorn was genuinely one of Cyrus’ favourite teachers. He almost never yelled at anyone, was nice and often complimented Cyrus on his work.

At least, he used to.

Cyrus couldn’t imagine his quality of work would stay the same if his potions partner wasn’t Andi, but instead some random kid who he had never worked with before.

As Cyrus made small talk with professor Slughorn, his fellow students started entering the classroom, settling down two by two at the small tables. Cyrus politely rounded up the conversation and sat down at a table alone.

A few Hufflepuffs stopped by his table to ask how his summer had been, but no one sat down in the vacant seat next to him.

Cyrus considered himself well liked within his house, but his core group of friends had always consisted of Andi, Buffy and Jonah, who were sadly not able to join him in Potions class, rendering him friendless.

“Alright, let’s start. This year is, as always, going to up the ante compared to any of the previous years, but I know that with your talent, hard work and perseverance…” Slughorn kicked off his start-of-the-year speech, looking around with a cheeky grin at all of his students and Cyrus started zoning out.

He didn’t want to admit it, even to himself, but secretly, he was a bit disappointed no one sat next to him. It sucked to work alone.

“To start this year with a bang, we’ll be focussing more on a different side of Potions that is a bit more,” He scratched his balding head, “theoretical. See, we’re not only here to teach you how to brew potions, as any idiot can do, but we also want to train you in certain arts, fields of defence and offence. We want to teach you how to brew an antidote to poisons, how to brew the poisons themselves, how to protect and heal, and how to attack.” He looked around at all of his students, making sure that he got their attention, “We count on you to take these lessons seriously.”

Cyrus took his book from his bag, putting it down on the table next to his cauldron and scales.

“We’ll start the year off, learning to brew healing potions and antidotes, as is tradition. Antidotes in particular can be very tricky, complex and advanced potion brewing and we’ll be merely skimming over them this year, which is why you’ll be focussing a lot more on them in Sixth Year.” Slughorn spoke, while he walked around the dungeon, readjusting people’s scales and stopping next to a few tables when he spotted a cauldron that looked a little too flimsy for his liking.

“Antidotes are very tricky and can be the difference between life and death. Brewing an antidote in time is a nerve-wracking task, knowing that you can save a person from excruciating pain, life in a coma or even death.” He paused for dramatic effect, really letting the students get a grip on the severity of the subject matter, “We’ll be starting with an easier one today. A healing potion, some might call it.” He pointed his wand at the blackboard and the instructions appeared, “Open your books on page 83, we’ll be starting off by brewing a Blood-Replenishing Potion. This is useful during battle, or in places where there are many feral magical creatures, as it tops up the blood level of the drinker after severe blood loss from injury. It’s a magical alternative for what muggles might call a ‘Blood Transfusion’.”

Suddenly, the door swung open. A tall blonde boy walked inside, readjusting his green and silver tie. He confidently stalked over to the front of the class where Slughorn was standing and handed him a note.

Slughorn frowned at it and held it as far away from his face as possible, putting his glasses on his nose with his other hand. He seemed to have finally read the contents of the note when he gave the boy a grin and a friendly slap on the shoulder.

“Excellent, there’s a free spot next to Goodman. He’s a great student, I don’t imagine you’ll have trouble working together.” He raised his eyebrows at the boy, who looked unsure, “Go on then, sit, we’re working on Blood-Replenishing Potions.”

Next to Cyrus.

Cyrus felt nervous as the boy’s eyes looked over the class, only to land on the only free spot next to Cyrus. He looked very familiar, even though Cyrus couldn’t think of his name.

The Slytherin made his way over with big strides and an air of natural bravado. He plopped down in the seat next to him and flashed him a smile.

“Hi. I’m TJ.”

Oh. The Slytherin seeker.

“Cyrus.”

 

-

 

“After you add the dried moths, you have to stir ten times clockwise and once anti-clockwise. Once that task is finished, let the brew simmer for exactly six minutes and repeat the previous line of instructions until the potion is a bright red colour.” TJ read.

Cyrus carefully sprinkled in the bag of dried moths that he had taken from the supply closet and nodded at TJ that he could start stirring. He peered into the cauldron to see that the potion was slowly turning from a sickly beige colour to red, just like the book was describing. TJ stirred one last time anti-clockwise and moved away from the cauldron.

“We should be done in a little bit, according to the book. Do you have a watch?” Cyrus asked.

TJ flashed his wrist to Cyrus, “I’ll keep an eye on the time.”

“Alright,” Cyrus said, pushing away from the table a bit.

TJ followed suit, trying to get away from the steam rising from the cauldron. “So what do we do now?”

“Wait six minutes, I guess.” Cyrus answered, pushing his sweaty fringe back with his hand. Hanging above a cauldron for an hour straight really warms you up, he thought, waving his hands in front of his face in an effort to cool down.

TJ’s perfect quiff was ruined by him running his hands through it constantly, and his cheeks were red from the heat. “Huh. That was easy.” He leaned back in his chair.

“I guess Slughorn isn’t starting with the really difficult potions yet. It is the first day after all,” Cyrus remarked.

“That, or we make great partners,” TJ said, smiling at Cyrus.

Cyrus rolled his eyes and desperately tried to squash down the butterflies that started fluttering in his stomach. Yes, he admitted to himself, maybe TJ was very attractive, but to counter that there was also the fact that he had met him an hour ago and that he desperately needed to chill.

“Sorry I was late and basically forced you to partner up with me.” TJ said, to break the silence that had been going on for a while, “I’m on the Quidditch team and we had to go to see McGonagall. She thought it necessary to explain the rules of etiquette for the Quidditch competition to us.” He rolled his eyes, “I like her as a teacher, but boy, did she blab on about how it’s supposed to be a friendly competition between houses and not an occasion to kill each other.”

“Well, I suppose it couldn’t hurt after what happened last year.” Cyrus said, cringing at his own mention of last year’s Quidditch competition.

After a disappointing final game between Gryffindor and Slytherin, someone had started as what can only be described as a riot, throwing out hexes left and right, which resulted in detention for both teams and two suspensions from the Quidditch team.

Cyrus had been in the library, as Quidditch didn’t really interest him that much and his house was not playing. Jonah, Buffy and Andi had stormed into the library after it finished and told him all the details, assuring him that it hadn’t been pretty.

“Also, don’t worry about pairing up with me, I didn’t exactly have anyone to work with,” Cyrus shrugged, checking on their potion to avoid eye contact, “All of my friends are in Gryffindor and Ravenclaw, I didn’t have anyone to partner up with anyway.”

TJ smiled and looked at his watch. “It’s time.”

Cyrus started stirring again and inspected the consistency and colour of the mixture, “I think we’re done here.”

The potion was blood red and unpleasant clouds that smelled of iron rose up out of the cauldron, just like it was described in the book. TJ carefully took it off the heat and they waited for Slughorn to come by so he could give his remarks.

Slughorn stirred their potion for a bit and took a whiff of the iron odour. “This looks excellent boys. Make sure to bottle it, so I can grade it. I can smell an ‘O’ coming your way. Great work!” Slughorn walked away from them with a satisfied expression, which turned sour as soon as he saw their neighbours’ potion that was bright purple and overflowing from the cauldron.

“I guess we make a good team,” Cyrus smiled at TJ, suddenly feeling a lot better about his Potions class than he had at breakfast.

 


	2. have you never been to the kitchens?

Cyrus groaned and buried his head in his arms, taking in the dusty smell of his parchment and ink. Professors giving students homework this early in the semester should be swiftly executed, he thought, groaning and pushing himself back up, delicately taking the quill from the ink pot and putting it down on paper.

He looked at the window, dust particles dancing in the sunlight, and he revelled in the pleasant warmth hitting his face for a brief moment. He shook his head, as if he was trying to shake the distraction out of it as he turned back to his paper, even though he couldn’t keep his mind from slipping to Buffy and Jonah on the Quidditch pitch, trying out for the Gryffindor Quidditch team. Even though he was confident in their abilities, he found himself nervously tapping his foot every time his thoughts drifted to his friends giving their all, outside in the heat.

He rubbed his eyes and looked at his blank paper, stained by drops of ink that he hadn’t noticed had dropped from his quill. He quickly vanished them with his wand and tried to think of everything he knew on the Summoning Charm, instead of Quidditch, since, sadly, he didn’t have to hand in an essay on Buffy’s capabilities as a chaser first hour on Monday.

He let out a sigh, couldn’t actually believe that he was stuck inside in the library on a Sunday instead of cheering for Jonah and Buffy in the stands, and he cursed himself for leaving the essay until the very last minute.

The library was practically deserted, save for a couple of Ravenclaw first years, giggling and looking over at him every so often, which he ignored, and madam Pince. He took a quick glance at her, and he found her already watching him like a hawk, surrounded by piles and piles of books, as if she was trying to build a house out of them. He had been holding in a sneeze for at least fifteen minutes, not wanting to face her wrath.

He kept staring at his textbook, that had been open on the same page since he took it out of his bag. He hadn’t taken in a single word of it, but he realised that he did have to start writing his essay or face failure on his very first essay of the year. He shook himself out of his summer-induced haze and put his quill to parchment and started forming sentences.

_The summoning charm is considered one of the oldest spells in wizarding history, even though it is a very wide-spread and simple charm. The summoning charm uses the Latin incantation ‘Accio’ which translates to ‘I summon’ and is exactly as it sounds, a charm that is used to make an object at a considerable distance from the caster to levitate, or even fly towards the caster. It’s crucial for the spell caster to think about the object in question otherwise the incantation won’t have any effect. One of the more famous users of the spell is-_

“Yo! Potion partner!”

Cyrus carefully took his quill from parchment and put it back in his ink bottle before he looked up to see TJ standing in front of him, holding a scroll of parchment, a bottle of ink and a couple of quills and a very tattered version of ‘the Standard Book of Spells’.

“Did you leave Flitwick’s essay until today too? Sucks, right?” TJ sighed, looking at Cyrus’ essay and trying to decipher his shitty handwriting. “Mind if I sit down?”

“Please sit down,” Cyrus said, frantically shoving his loose papers into piles, and shoving his parchment and books to the side to make a clean half of the table for TJ to put his stuff down. TJ flashed him a smile and he felt his heart make a weak little jump, being reminded of how attractive he thought TJ was, all blond hair and broad shoulders and natural confidence.

“So, you come here often?” TJ was in the middle of flipping to the correct page in his textbook when Cyrus looked at him with raised eyebrows and he realised his mistake, “To learn, I mean,” he spluttered, “I just don’t think I’ve ever seen you here before,” TJ clarified, tilting his head ever so slightly.

Cyrus tilted his head, mimicking TJ, “Fairly often. Maybe you’ve just never noticed me before,”

TJ bit his bottom lip and looked Cyrus straight in the eye, “Doesn’t seem very plausible, but okay.”

Cyrus could feel his cheeks heating up behind his Charms textbook. He glanced over at TJ, and when he found him already looking back his eyes slid over to the window, trying to become transfixed on the dancing dust particles as he had been before. He would not let himself get another crush on a straight guy. His crush on Jonah had been bad enough and he was done being flustered and on his toes around every cute boy that was in his near vicinity.

Cyrus put his textbook down on the table, and picked his quill up again. “I usually come here with some friends. Maybe that’s why you’ve never seen me here.” He scribbled down another random fact about the Summoning Charm and decidedly didn’t look TJ in the eye.

“So, why aren’t your friends here with you now?” TJ asked, making Cyrus look up from his essay and tip his head back in frustration, audibly sighing

“Because two of them are trying out for the Gryffindor Quidditch team right now, and the other one went along to cheer for them,” He took another wistful look at the window, desperately wanting to be out there, but also not wanting to write his essay at night. “I, on the other hand, had too much homework to go along, so here I am.” Cyrus sarcastically waved his hands around, splattering ink everywhere, “I’m just kind of angry at myself for not finishing this damn essay on time, so I won’t know if they made the team until this evening at dinner.”

“Your friends are trying out for Gryffindor?” TJ looked up from his essay, smiling up at Cyrus, “Are they prepared to get pummelled into the ground by Slytherin this year?”

“Well,” Cyrus gave TJ a half-smile, “I’m not sure Buffy would let that happen. She has trained just a little too much this summer to hand over the victory that easily.” He held up his essay so TJ could see it, “Do you think I’ve written enough?”

“Sure,” TJ said, keeping his eyes focussed on his essay, “Who’s Buffy?” TJ’s voice went up several tones, “Your… uh… Your girlfriend?”

Cyrus snorted, “No, she’s my best friend,” when TJ looked up he rolled his eyes, “She’s been dying to get onto the team ever since she set foot inside the castle, but they’ve just never had an open spot until now.” He put his quill down and blew on his essay to make the ink dry faster. He grew impatient with it and waved his wand, making the ink dry up instantly, and then he tapped the roll that rolled itself up and sealed itself. Cyrus looked over at it with a satisfied smile and put it in his bag.

He looked over at TJ, who had some ink smeared on his cheek and raised his eyebrows, “How’s the essay coming along?”

TJ put his quill down and carded his fingers through his hair, “It’s not, if I’m being honest.” He put his palms over his eyes, “My mind is just all over the place today. Probably because I forgot to eat breakfast and lunch.”

“You haven’t eaten anything all day? Are you alright?” Cyrus looked at TJ with wide eyes, “Want to go get some food?

TJ took his hands from his eyes and rubbed them, “Dinner isn’t for another four hours, Cyrus,” he gave Cyrus a small smile, and Cyrus only then realised how tired he looked, “but thanks anyway.”

Cyrus looked slightly bewildered, “Have you never been to the kitchens?”

TJ looked confused, “No? I wouldn’t even know where to find it?”

“Boy, you’re in for a real treat.” Cyrus held out his hand and wiggled his fingers, inviting TJ to take it, “Ready to be let in on the worst kept Hogwarts secret?”

TJ’s eyes never left Cyrus’ face when he grabbed his outstretched hand with a firm but warm grip.

“What are we waiting for?”

 

-

 

Cyrus could hear their footsteps echo down the empty school halls. He was animatedly explaining how he knew of the kitchen to TJ, who could only trail behind him and nod.

“It’s really close to Hufflepuff, actually.” Cyrus said, “I think I first went to the kitchen with my prefect in first year when I helped carry food back to our common room after a Quidditch win.” He took a left into a hallway TJ had never been in before and halted before a still life of a fruit bowl.

TJ frowned, “Are we even allowed to be here?”

“You know,” Cyrus said, tickling the pear, making the green door handle appear, “I don’t think so, but there are no school rules against going to the kitchens,” he stepped inside, motioning for TJ to follow him inside, even though he looked noticeably hesitant, “Come on! I checked the rules, I promise.”

They walked into the kitchen and were instantly surrounded by the smell of the stew simmering on the stove and what can only be described as a flock of house-elves. Cyrus walked up to the ones he knew very well and instantly took up multiple conversations. TJ stayed a couple steps behind, marvelling at the high ceilings and the four long tables that were an exact replica of the ones upstairs in the Great Hall.

“Would young sir and his friend like a cup of tea?” A tiny elf holding a kettle that was as least half his height asked Cyrus.

Cyrus sat down at the replica of the Ravenclaw table and motioned for TJ to sit down next to him. “That would be great, thank you so much,” Cyrus smiled at his elf friend, “would it be too much trouble to get my pal here something to eat?”

TJ was instantly ambushed by a house elf wearing a fuzzy clean bathing towel, and was soon holding a steaming mug of tea and looking at the frantic house-elves running around the kitchen. They didn’t even have the chance to start up a proper conversation before they were served a platter of freshly made sandwiches and a plate of biscuits that were chewy and still warm from the oven.

“Wow, this is amazing, thank you so much,” TJ said, individually thanking every single house-elf that was standing around them. He took a sandwich and started eating, clearly enjoying every bite, while Cyrus was making pleasant conversation with a young elf called Hoopy, sipping his tea and gorging himself on the biscuits.

The elves soon scattered to resume preparing dinner for the hundreds of hungry mouths that would be waiting to be fed in just a few short hours.

“Feel any better yet?” Cyrus asked, fiddling with the ear of his teacup.

TJ hummed, obviously trying to answer, but settling for nodding with a mouth full of sandwich. Cyrus snorted into his tea, wondering how he had ever been intimidated by this boy when he walked into his Potions class.

 

-

 

TJ and Cyrus left the kitchens, aimlessly strolling down the corridors of the castles, munching on the cookies and muffins that the elves gave them as a parting gift.

“You’re wrong,” TJ said, trying to seem as intimidating as possible through a mouth full of cookies, “chocolate chip cookies are the best thing ever made, and you can suck it.” He laughed out loud and lightly shoved Cyrus to the side, making him drop a cookie or two.

 Cyrus shook his head no, unable to contain a huge grin, muffin crumbs spilling out of his mouth. “Dishonour on you and dishonour on your family. You are delusional if you think that a mere cookie can beat the experience that is eating a chocolate chocolate chip muffin.

“To be honest I do not give a single damn about your dishonour, since I am clearly in the right and  _you_  have never been more wrong. You can’t change my mind and you might as well not try.”

“Okay, then,” Cyrus said, finally shoving TJ back, but failing since he was laughing so hard, “if you refuse to listen to the voice of reason, you can stay uneducated in your cookie-induced delusion.”

“Alright, voice of reason,” TJ stood still, slightly out of breath, “thanks for bringing me to the kitchens today, I had a lot of fun.”

“No need to thank me. It’s not like I’d let my friends starve,” Cyrus replied, fixing his dishevelled robes.

“Are we? Friends, I mean.” TJ said, smiling down at Cyrus.

Cyrus smiled back at TJ. “We could be. We do make a pretty good team,”

 

-

 

Cyrus walked into the great hall, schoolbag slung over one shoulder as he didn’t have time to put it back in his common room after his little studying session went awry when TJ arrived.

“Cyrus! Cy!” Cyrus looked around, seeing his friends sitting together at the Gryffindor table.

Cyrus hurried to where they were seated, promptly putting his bag down on the ground and sitting down next to Andi, looking at Buffy and Jonah with big, expecting eyes.

“You can stop stressing, Cyrus,” Buffy said, fondly rolling her eyes, “we both made the team.”

“Oh my god, that’s great news, why are you being so casual about this? What the heck,” Cyrus freaked out, throwing himself over the table to give his friend a hug. “We should celebrate!”

“Yes! We should go for a walk around the lake, Andi has some butterbeer left from home, we have some time left before curfew,” Jonah suggested, clearly trying to sound casual but looking very happy.

“Yeah, sure, I’ll go dump my bag in the dorm, and then I’ll come.” Cyrus gushed, totally on board with the idea.

“Your book bag? Have you spent the entire day in the library, Cy?” Andi gasped, clearly concerned.

“No, I finished my essay for Charms, but I didn’t get much done after TJ came to the library,” Cyrus said through a mouth stuffed full of creamy mashed potatoes and beef stew, “I was actually planning on going back to the library after dinner, but that can wait.”

Buffy frowned, “TJ?  _TJ Kippen_?”

Cyrus nodded, not seeing the issue, “Yes? TJ, my potion partner?”

“The  _captain_ of the Slytherin Quidditch team.” Buffy clarified, a barely masked undertone of disgust audible in her voice.

Cyrus felt defensive all of a sudden, crossing his arms and staring her down. “What's wrong with that?”

Buffy rolled her eyes, pursing her lips, “I just can’t believe that my best friend missed my Quidditch try-out to hang out with the Slytherin seeker.”

“It’s not like I planned for it to happen.” Cyrus said, touching Buffy’s hand from across the table, “we just worked on Flitwick’s essay together and then went to the kitchens as he hadn’t eaten anything all day,” he shrugged and took a sip of his pumpkin juice, “You haven’t even met the guy, Buffy. I think you’d like him.”

“Okay,” Buffy said, taking Cyrus’ hand to give it a gentle squeeze, “I trust you. Sorry if I overreacted.”

“He’s a good guy,” Cyrus said, looking Buffy in the eyes, “I promise.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have taken the artistic liberty of only giving them 2 hours of potions in the week instead of three, so they have one giant lesson on Monday.  
> Also, in my utopian version of events the houses do have an assigned table to sit at during more formal moments, such as the start or the end of the year, but usually they can sit wherever they damn well please.  
> Also if you would like for me to write anything, leave your suggestions in the comments because I'm trying to get back into the flow.


	3. "So, where's Buffy?"

“We must’ve done something wrong,” Cyrus complained, vigorously stirring his potion, little sweat beads forming on his forehead. TJ on the other hand leaned back in his chair, reading the instructions with an expression of intense concentration. The dungeon was filled with smoke coming from the cauldrons and it had been gradually getting hotter as everyone's brewing progressed.

“Yeah, but I just don’t get what we could have messed up,” TJ said, clearly frustrated, “we got all the ingredients right and you double checked the amounts. It should be fucking purple by now.”

The potion stubbornly remained a dark pink, but they were at least doing better than their neighbours a table over whose potion was an awful neon green and smelled of mouldy bread.

Cyrus twisted on his chair and took the book from TJ’s hands, to quadruple check if they did everything right. His eyes scanned the entire list of ingredients and Slughorn's tips and additional instructions on the blackboard for what felt like the tenth time. He was so sure they had done everything perfectly how it was described.

“There must be something we’re not seeing. Merlin, I feel like an idiot.”

Cyrus sighed and tried to hand the book back to TJ, who looked like he had completely given up and had collapsed onto the table, resting his head on his arms, as if he was about to take a nap. The Slytherin groaned and got up out of his cocoon of self-pity to take the book from Cyrus. His hair was totally dishevelled, it seemed like the heat of the cauldron had steamed the copious amount of gel TJ used out of his quiff and left it a sweaty and fluffy mess on his forehead.

“Let’s go over this _fucking_ list one more time and pray for a miracle.”

They bowed over the list, naming every single one of the ingredients out loud and checking if it was present on their table.

Cyrus felt his heart drop.

“We forgot to keep adding extract of lavender while stirring.”

“That can’t be it,” TJ said, “I clearly remember you putting in lavender when we started brewing.”

“I only did it once, but you’re supposed to keep adding while stirring, I think.”

TJ nodded, clearly not entirely convinced and shuffled closer to Cyrus to have a proper look at their potion sizzling inside his cauldron.

“I mean, it’s worth a shot I guess.”

Cyrus started stirring the mixture and TJ carefully put in one drop of lavender extract. Both boys held their breath to see the reaction inside the cauldron.

Nothing happened.

“ _Fuck_ ,” Cyrus huffed, “I give up.” He pushed his chair back so he didn’t have to take one more look at their disappointing project.

“No, wait, Cyrus, come here for a second, please?” TJ was still hanging above the cauldron, waving the fumes away with one hand and motioning for Cyrus to come closer with the other.

“Maybe I’m tricking myself into seeing things, but isn’t it more purple than before?”

Cyrus looked inside the cauldron to see that the potion, indeed, looked a bit more purple than before.

“Add more, add more, we can’t stop now,” His enthusiasm instantly came back and he quickly tapped TJ on the arm. Cyrus started stirring, and TJ started dropping lavender into the mixture, and both boys were ecstatic to see the potion slowly turning into the vibrant purple described in the book.

“I can’t believe we did it, Merlin’s underpants. I’m exhausted.” TJ filled up a phial from his bag, labelled it with their last names and stood up to hand it in to Slughorn.

 

-

 

TJ brushed off his friends who tried to get him to come with them to wait until Cyrus had packed all of his stuff and helped clean their workspace.

The boys walked to the Great Hall together, Cyrus teasing TJ for taking a bathroom break to fix his mess of a hairdo, even after Cyrus had assured him that the fluffy hair was fine too.

“See you around, I guess,” TJ said when they arrived at the Great Hall, looking noticeably hesitant to leave.

“You can come eat lunch with me and my friends? If you want, I mean,” Cyrus sputtered, all of a sudden shy in front of his new friend, turning bright red and refusing to look TJ in the eye.

“Yeah sure,” TJ nodded, also decidedly _not_ looking down at Cyrus, “so… where are they?”

Cyrus’ head shot up at TJ’s ‘yes’ and frantically scanned the room for his friends. He could make out Andi and Jonah sitting at the Hufflepuff table, their usual meeting spot for lunch, looking insanely lost and out of place without their Hufflepuff friend.

Cyrus started walking to his friends, TJ in tow, and both boys sat down at the table. Andi and Jonah’s whispered conversation, which undoubtedly was about their mess of a relationship, came to an abrupt halt, and caused a very uncomfortable silence. Cyrus scraped his throat.

“So, guys, this is TJ, my potion partner, and uh, TJ, these are my friends Jonah and Andi,” Cyrus quickly looked from TJ to Andi and back. In a desperate attempt to divert the attention from the unannounced addition to their little friend group Cyrus decided to bring up another topic.

“So, where’s Buffy?”

Andi immediately broke the tension by snorting.

“Most desperate attempt to break the tension goes to Cyrus Goodman,” she laughed and after Jonah joined in, Cyrus couldn’t help but crack a little smile.

“As for your question,” Jonah said, trying to pick some pasta up with his spoon and failing, “our captain has asked her to stay behind to talk strategy. You know, since she did that ‘exclusive Quidditch training camp’ in summer,” Jonah continued, making air quotes with his hands and rolling his eyes. “I guess the captain thinks her input could be of use. They’ve been talking for quite a while, she should be here in a minute.”

“Ah, that’s our Cyrus Goodman, can’t function even a minute without his Buffy,” Walker joined in, sitting down across from TJ and piling on a generous helping of pasta on his plate.

“Teej, how come you decided to sit with us today?” Walker said and continued, after looking around at the confused faces around the table, “TJ and I were in the Hospital Wing together last year, when I fell down the stairs and broke my wrist and TJ was in there after a Quidditch accident.”

“Interesting,” Andi said, “Cyrus how have you even been functioning today without seeing Buffy once? Poor thing, you must really be suffering.”

“Okay, enough with the bullying,” Cyrus laughed along with the rest of the table, sneaking a glance at TJ who looked extremely uncomfortable. “Anyway, TJ, did you know that Jonah is a beater on Gryffindor’s team?”

TJ’s expression brightened immediately now the subject was Quidditch and not Cyrus-and-Buffy.

“That’s sick dude, congratulations on making the team. Ready to get pummelled into the ground by Slytherin, though?”

“That’s absolutely _not_ going to happen,” Jonah huffed, “we’re training super hard and besides, we have Buffy this year, who is an insanely talented chaser. She said that Gwenog Jones told her that she could play for the national team one day if she keeps training and improving at the rate she does now.”

“Well, Slytherin has me, and I could take on any of you Gryffindors in my sleep,” TJ laughed, “I’ll guess we’ll have to wait and see when we play against each other. But we’re not playing each other for another…”

“Two months and one week,” Buffy, who finally arrived, cheerfully interrupted TJ and smiled, “I don’t think we’ve met. I’m Buffy.”

TJ looked her in the face with a neutral expression.

“Pleasure,” he said in a bored tone, not looking Buffy in the face, sticking out his hand for her to shake before turning back to Jonah to continue their Quidditch banter.

For the rest of the meal, TJ would enthusiastically engage in conversation with everyone but react lukewarm at best when Buffy was speaking, and would often just ignore her.

After lunch TJ left with Andi and Walker for Charms class which Ravenclaw and Slytherin apparently shared. Buffy watched them leave, eyes clearly trained on the back of TJ’s head.

“Cyrus? What the hell was that?” Buffy asked with a dumbfounded expression.

“I have no idea.”

 

-

 

“I’m _not_ talking to you until you apologize to Buffy.”

“For what? I didn’t do anything wrong!”

“For being so damn _rude_!” Cyrus hissed sharply. “What the fuck was that about?”

Cyrus was sat at a table in the back of the library, behind a pile of Transfiguration books, looking up at TJ who was standing across from him. The library was almost empty, save for Cyrus, TJ and madam Pince as they were approaching curfew. Madam Pince had been looking at them for the past ten minutes, clearly waiting for them to leave.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” TJ said, his posture tense and defensive.

“You clearly do. You were getting along just fine with everyone else until Buffy arrived. I don’t get what your problem is. She’s really cool,” Cyrus said, sounding defeated. “You were so horrible to her and she already was disappointed that I hung out with you instead of coming to her try-out, and now she’s just going to think you’re an awful person, and I just wanted you guys to get along.”

“I’m sorry, okay?” TJ’s voice was soft, and he was looking at Cyrus with big eyes.

“Promise you’ll say that to Buffy and we’re good,” Cyrus said, glaring at TJ.

“I promise,” TJ said, “are you ready to leave?”

Cyrus nodded and packed his belongings and both boys left the library and made their way through the castle in amicable silence.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Writing conflict is a struggle for me as I am the most non-confrontational person you have ever seen and I fix every problem by burying it in the sand.


	4. "Meet you on the ground?"

“Cyrus? Aren’t you coming along?”

Cyrus looked up from his book at Buffy and Jonah, both looking down at him expectantly, dressed head-to-toe in Quidditch gear.

Cyrus had been sitting with Andi and Walker at the Ravenclaw table in the great hall, his friends wearing warm woollen coats, hats and scarfs with their house colours. Jonah and Buffy had made plans to go to the Quidditch field after dinner to meet with their captain to practise Buffy’s free throws and Jonah’s sharp turns. They had asked if their friends wanted to come along for moral support, but Cyrus had decided to not go along.

“Uh… I don’t think so? The weather is shit, I’m not exactly dressed for the occasion, and I have an enormous pile of homework that needs to be sorted out.”

“Come on, Cyrus, please? We have barely done anything together since we got to Hogwarts,” Buffy said with big puppy dog eyes.

“I promise I’ll come next time, Buffy.”

Cyrus walked his friends to the front door of the castle, said goodbye and turned around, starting to walk towards the Hufflepuff corridors, but with every step he took the guilt and regret that he didn’t go with his friends ate away at him. Buffy had been right, they hadn’t hung out very much, and he had already missed her try-out.

He turned on his heel and ran out of the door, into the chilly evening. His book bag swung back and forth against his hip and the gravel of the path crackled under his feet as he started to catch up with the group. As he approached his friends, Buffy turned around.

“I told you he would come! Andi, you owe me five sickles!”

 

-

 

“October is a lot colder than I remember it being last year,” Cyrus said, while trying to rub some warmth into his legs.

He had been sitting on the Quidditch stands for God-knows-how-long.  The air in his lungs felt so frozen it hurt and he was afraid that the feeling in his legs would never return if he didn’t stretch them soon.

If the weather alone wasn’t unpleasant enough, earlier in the evening it had started to rain, and it was exactly the kind of rain that you would expect from mid-October. It was a sad little drizzle that had been going on for at least an hour now, from when they arrived at the pitch to well into the evening.

Cyrus had always had a strong dislike for rain.  He absolutely dreaded the moments when he didn’t bring an umbrella and his socks would feel soggy and he could feel the water in his shoes when he walked. His parents always argued that he should wear a raincoat, but he would always argue that it did not matter which type of coat he wore, because his clothes would end up clammy anyway.  Usually, whenever the clouds started to show even the slightest signs it was going to rain, Cyrus would stay inside with a novel and a nice cup of tea.

“Cyrus, you’re not wearing a coat. Of course you’re going to be cold,” Walker said, stretching his body and putting his arms around Cyrus and Andi, who both gratefully leaned into his body heat.

“Gosh, Walker, you’re hot,” Cyrus remarked, settling against his friend’s warm shoulder.

“I mean, I already knew, but thanks for the compliment,” Walker smiled, and Andi playfully hit him on the knee, while Cyrus audibly cracked up.

Buffy and Jonah seemed to be doing alright on the pitch, occasionally they would see Jonah practising rolls, dives and breaks in mid-air, since the actual technique of flying had never been his strongest suit. He was chosen as beater because of the incredible accuracy he possessed when he would hit the bludger at an opponent, and his extremely fast reaction speed.

From the plethora of encouraging comments the captain was shouting at Buffy, Cyrus was positive that his friend was killing it on the pitch, even though he couldn’t really see much through the rain, and the evening that had slowly gone dark.

“Shouldn’t we get going? It’s getting pretty late,” a sleepy Andi said with her eyes closed, cuddling even closer to Walker.

“We have at least another two hours until curfew, Andi. Now, get up before Jonah Beck sees me all cosied up to his girlfriend and decides to crash his broom into the stands.”

“Jonah Beck will just have to deal with it, because I’m going nowhere,” Andi said, obviously still stubbornly set on falling asleep on Walker.

The three stayed in silence for a little while, content with just observing their friends, as they were looping through the air.

“It stopped raining,” Cyrus observed, “maybe we should leave before it starts up again?”

“What does it matter, Cyrus? You are wet all over from sitting here for two hours anyway,” Andi said, sitting up straight and stretching her body out like a cat.

“YO, BUFFY! ARE YOU ALMOST DONE?” Walker yelled, causing the three players to fly over to the stand to tell them that they were wrapping the training up, so Andi, Walker and Cyrus made their way down. When they got down, they could clearly see Buffy and Jonah talking to someone, while the team captain packed up the balls they used during practice.

“I didn’t come here to spy, alright! I didn’t even know you guys had practice. I checked this morning and the pitch wasn’t booked by any house.”

Andi lightly shoved Cyrus while they were walking, with a confused expression on her face.

“Is that TJ?”

Cyrus walked faster towards the familiar voice, and indeed, TJ was standing taller than Buffy and Jonah, dressed in a pair of regular pants, a big hoodie and a beanie, looking absolutely unprepared for any sort of training. Buffy was leaning on her broom, looking furious and subjecting TJ to what only can be described as an interrogation.

Jonah had slowly backed away and was now standing with Andi, leaving Buffy to deal with TJ.

“Guys,” Jonah said, “we’re heading back to the castle. Are you coming?”

“Yeah,” Buffy huffed, “Get me out of here.”

Cyrus was heading towards the castle next to Walker, followed by Buffy and Jonah and the team captain, who was apparently called Violet, deep in conversation with Andi.

The double doors of the front entrance of the castle came into view, when Cyrus realised he had forgotten his book bag on the stands.

“Do you want me to come along, Cy?” Buffy asked.

“No, you guys go, I'll be back in a bit,” Cyrus said, excusing himself from the group and headed back towards the pitch.

“God damn, it’s fucking cold,” Cyrus muttered, trying to warm himself up by rubbing his arms. As he got closer to the pitch, he could see TJ flying around. He didn’t know how he was supposed to feel if he were to run into TJ there, after his spat with Buffy and the awkward way they left things on Monday. On the other hand there was the easy friendship between the boys, and the odd attraction Cyrus felt.

When he arrived at the stands, Cyrus started to climb the multiple sets of stairs, internally cursing himself for still not being able to do a summoning charm. He got to the top of the stands. The rain from earlier had completely cleared out, and left in its place was a cold and dark evening, and Cyrus couldn’t see anything.

“Lumos!”

His book bag was probably still laying under the chair where Cyrus had thrown it earlier that evening when it had started to rain, scared that his books were going to get wet. Cyrus was walking around, looking under the chairs for his bag, shining a bright light with his wand. Suddenly he heard a loud voice.

“Who is that?”

Cyrus turned around, looking at TJ on his broom, who was levitating in front of the Quidditch stands, clearly blinded by the light of Cyrus’ wand, squinting his eyes to look at Cyrus.

“Relax, it’s just me.”

“Cyrus? Why are you out here all alone?” TJ asked.

“Yes, dumbass. I forgot my bag here when we left. Why _you_ are out here all alone, that’s a better question,” Cyrus said defiantly, hopefully reaching under a chair and coming up empty.

“Sometimes I like to train without the pressure of leading a team,” TJ said, “I mainly come out here to clear my head when it all gets too much. Flying just helps me breathe, you know.”

“What do you mean?” Cyrus asked, shining a light under a row of chairs and finally making out the familiar silhouette of his bag.

“Well, when you’re on the pitch here, and you’re high enough, you can see the mountains and the forest and the castle, and it just puts everything into perspective for me.” TJ said, clearly very entertained watching Cyrus trying to get his bag that had gotten lodged between two chairs.

Cyrus gave one last pull and finally yanked his bag to freedom.

“Interesting. Brooms generally tend to dislike me. I can’t stay seated.”

“You can’t stay seated on a broom,” TJ repeated, clearly amused.

“There is a whole list of easy things I can’t do. I might show it to you one day,” Cyrus responded, adjusting the strap of his bag on his shoulder, “I’m heading down. See you tomorrow?”

“I can teach you how to stay seated on a broom if you like. We have another hour until curfew.”

Cyrus mulled the idea over for a bit, before shrugging.

“I failed Flying in first year. I don’t know how you’re going to teach me.”

“I am an excellent coach _and_ a great Quidditch player.” TJ said, doing a somersault on his broom to prove his point.

“You know what? I’d like to see you try. Meet you on the ground?”

“You can climb on here with me and we’d be down in a second,” TJ teased.

“Never in a million years, Kippen.”

 

-

 

“So, you mount it like you would step on a bike, and put your feet on the crossbar behind you,” TJ instructed from behind, holding Cyrus’ shoulder with one hand and tail of his broomstick with the other, “Stop whining.”

“I feel like I’m about to fall off.”

“No, you’re not.”

“I’m going to die.”

“Your feet are still on the ground.” TJ sighed, “Okay, different approach.”

He let go of the broomstick and moved his hand to Cyrus’ waist, and moved his other hand there as well. TJ was suddenly so close that Cyrus could feel his warm breath on the back of his neck, making all of the hair there stand up.

“I’ve got you, Cyrus.”

Cyrus nodded, not trusting himself to say anything right now, trying hard to focus on sitting on the broom and not on how he was they were so incredibly close that he could smell TJ’s aftershave.

“Kick your feet up,” TJ said, softly, as if he was scared of disrupting something.

Cyrus hesitantly followed TJ’s instructions, placing his feet on the crossbar and leaning heavily on the broom. TJ slowly backed away from Cyrus, letting go of his waist.

He was doing it. He was actually flying.

“Okay, try to pull up the front of your broom a little bit, so you get a bit higher.”

“I’m fine here,” Cyrus squeaked, shaking because of the adrenaline and the fear. It scared him to no end that he couldn’t feel solid ground under his feet. He could see his panicky breaths form little white clouds in the air. “Fuck, it’s cold.”

“Oh Merlin,” TJ said, taking Cyrus’ hands between his bigger ones and trying to rub some warmth back into them, “You’re freezing! Let’s go back inside.”

“No, I want to learn some more,” Cyrus complained. Yes, he was cold, but he was also having a great time spending time with TJ, and was not planning on self-sabotaging by being cold.

“Are you sure? You’re really cold,” TJ said, and when Cyrus nodded, he shrugged off his hoodie, “Take this before you freeze up.”

“But you’ll get cold!” Cyrus protested.

“This is a thermal shirt,” TJ said, pulling at his sleeve for a bit, “it’s what muggles wear when it’s winter, and I have my hat. Besides, I don’t really get cold.”

Cyrus gratefully took the hoodie, and slipped it on, immediately releasing a sigh of relief, hiding his cold hands inside the long sleeves and tightening up the hood.

“You look like a gnome.”

“Thanks,” Cyrus snorted, “I am at least a warm gnome now.”

“Ready to continue flying, Goodman?”

“Bring it on.”

 

-

 

After TJ convinced Cyrus to go a little bit higher, so he would have a bit of leverage to move without crashing into the ground, Cyrus was having a blast. Yes, it took half an hour for him to climb up to about the height of TJ’s chest, and yes, all he had done was make a slow circle around TJ, who was still holding his broom, but he was flying.

“Do you know that game ‘Underdog’ muggles play on swing sets?” TJ asked, interrupting Cyrus’ train of thought.

“No,” Cyrus, who had grown up in the wizarding world, and only had interactions with muggles when he had to go down to the shop or the bakery.

TJ let go of the broom and left Cyrus to his own devices, while he ran under the broom.

“Underdog!”

“What are you doing, you idiot,” Cyrus said, trying very, very hard to stay seated on the broom and not panic because TJ wasn’t holding him in place anymore.

“I’m enjoying myself. You should try it every once in a while,” TJ looked at his watch and cursed, “Shit, it’s a quarter to nine. We should get going.”

Cyrus used the instructions TJ gave him earlier (“Point the tip of the broom down, but don’t do it too suddenly or you’ll crash it into the ground.”) to get down. He handed the broom back to TJ, slung his book bag over his shoulder and started the walk back to the castle. After a while TJ broke the silence.

“So, Underdog, how’s your transfiguration essay coming along?”

“Underdog?” Cyrus snorted, “Is that a new nickname for me?”

“From now on, it is.”

“Alright, you weirdo. It’s not, to answer your question.” Cyrus said, scrunching up his face just thinking about the essay he was supposed to be working on right now, as they walked into the castle.

“Maybe we can work on it together?” TJ proposed, bumping their hands together.

“I don’t know, TJ. I was going to work on it tomorrow in this study group I have with my friends,” Cyrus grimaced, “and as long as you don’t apologise to Buffy, I don’t think she’s going to be very happy if you show up at our table in the library.”

“I promise I’m going to make it up to Buffy. I really didn’t mean to be such a dick to her. My mind wasn’t in the right place,” TJ said, looking down at Cyrus, and subtly moving a bit closer, so that their hands were brushing with every step they took.

“I don’t think she’ll mind if you apologize. But you have to mean it, she hates it when you lie to her,” Cyrus said, turning to look TJ in the eye, and finding him a bit closer than he’d expected. The rest of his sentence he had meant to say got stuck in his throat.

For a while, the boys just stood very close to each other, neither one looking away.

Suddenly a loud voice interrupted them.

“What are you boys still doing here? It’s past curfew! You should be heading to your dormitories!”

Cyrus and TJ turned and found professor Slughorn coming out of the corridor holding a mug of tea and a chocolate éclair.

“Hurry, before I start to deduct points!”

TJ and Cyrus walked together towards the dormitories, before parting when Cyrus got to the corridor.

“See you tomorrow, Teej.”

 “See you tomorrow, Underdog.”

The boys shared one last private smile, before both heading their separate ways. Only when he got to his dormitory and started to get ready for bed, Cyrus realised he forgot to give TJ his hoodie back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> to start, happy fuckinnnnn halloween, it's 2AM right now and I'm going to a party today and I'm stoked af  
> second, I really hope you like it, this chapter is the longest i have ever written by far, but i had a lot of fun writing it  
> let me know in the comments what you think of it, i hope you like it lol


	5. "I mean... consider it a peace offering."

Cyrus was walking around the library, occasionally pulling books of the shelves, listening in to his friends who were being quite loud, and pissing off madam Pince. He had barely started working on his transfiguration essay before he had stood up from the table to potter around for a while until he could concentrate again. He really did need to finish the essay today, as he did absolutely nothing in study group yesterday, except eat Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour Beans that he had snuck in, and annoy Andi.

The library was filled to maximum capacity, as was custom on a Sunday afternoon, when it was always crammed to the brim with students who had left their Monday homework until the last possible minute.

Their usual spot in the back was taken by some third year Ravenclaws, so they, meaning Cyrus, Buffy, Andi and Jonah, who had not finished their homework yesterday, had to make do with a table in the very middle of the library. There was no ability to joke around or be even a little bit louder than a whisper. Cyrus felt exposed.

He hadn’t seen TJ properly since their little flying session on Friday, only in passing and briefly in the Great Hall, where they had waved awkwardly at each other. Cyrus wasn’t sure how to interact with him anymore. Sure, he’d love to be friends, and  _only_ friends with the guy, but after Friday, after their moment in the hallway, Cyrus wasn’t so sure anymore that he only felt friendship for TJ. The moment had been charged with electricity between them, and he was almost sure that if they hadn’t been interrupted by Slughorn that one of them would have snapped and done something,  _anything._ He was also pretty sure he wasn’t making this up, but he wanted to be absolutely, one hundred percent confident that he was right, and not just setting himself up for heartbreak.

Crushes are complicated, he decided, watching a tiny first year Hufflepuff jumping up and down to reach a copy of the Standard Book of Spells.

Whenever he was with TJ, he felt like he was outside on a hot summer night, and you could already hear the thunder in the distance, but you weren’t sure when it was going to start raining, or if it would rain at all. When the air was so sticky hot that you could practically  _feel_  tension brewing.

To be honest, he felt like he was constantly on edge, like there was a ticking time bomb they were passing back and forth waiting to explode.

But on the other hand.

Buffy.

Being real friends with TJ, let alone something else, would automatically require approval from Buffy, his best friend since he had set foot on the Hogwarts Express. He couldn’t be friends with anyone who was a dick to her. Period.

He hadn’t dared to tell anyone about their flying session, afraid of upsetting Buffy, who had offered numerous times to help him fly, even though he was constantly debating telling Andi and Buffy about his budding crush.

Cyrus was looking at the pictures in a book about blood curses and cringing more and more with every page he turned when he got hit in the head with a scroll of parchment. Repeatedly.

“Cyrus? Earth to Cyrus?”

“Yes, you violent monster?” Cyrus said, closing his book and facing Andi.

“What the hell are you reading? Planning on casting any blood curses soon?” Andi asked, taking the book from Cyrus and looking at it with an expression of clear disgust.

“Is that why you had to whack me with your homework, you weirdo?”

“No, actually,” Andi said, putting the book back on the shelves, “I wondered if you knew what TJ is doing in the library?

“TJ?” Cyrus asked, turning his head rapidly from left to right, trying to locate the familiar Slytherin. “Where?”

“Over at the table, talking to Buffy,” Andi said, pursing her lips, clearly suspicious. “Do you think it’s sus?”

“No… no, I’m actually convinced it’s practically the opposite,” Cyrus said, making his way over to their table, where TJ standing at their table, leaning on a chair.

Cyrus decided to not march up to the table as he had originally planned, but to instead hide behind a large bookshelf, waiting to see what TJ would do. Andi tried to move past him, but he held her back. They arrived just in time to see TJ, dressed in full Quidditch gear, handing a piece of paper over to Buffy.

“Are you serious?”

“I mean… consider it a peace offering.”

Buffy’s eyes narrowed, her fist clenching around the paper in her hand?

“Is this a trick? Why are you being so nice all of a sudden?”

TJ held up both of his hands in defence, shaking his head wildly.

“No ulterior motives here, just trying to rectify things. I’ve been a jerk to you, Buffy, really. And I want to make it up to you, because that’s not who I am and it’s also not who I want to be.”

“So, what do you want to be?” Buffy asked, sounding interested. Jonah, who was still sitting at the table with Buffy, looked absolutely confused, not knowing what was going on, as per usual.

“Your friend maybe? Not only for me, but you know… for Cyrus?” TJ said, hesitant, holding out his hand for Buffy to shake, like he did a week ago, but now he was looking Buffy in the eye and he seemed open and inviting, and even vulnerable, instead of hostile.

Meanwhile, behind the bookcase, Andi was silently slapping Cyrus on the arm, while he was blushing wildly.

“Alright then. Friends,” Buffy huffed out a laugh, her eyes twinkling like she knew something, “For Cyrus.”

“So, can I join you guys?” TJ asked, suddenly sounding a lot more confident than he had a minute ago.

“Yeah sure,” a smiley Jonah exclaimed loudly, earning him a sharp warning from madam Pince.

TJ plopped down on the chair next to Buffy,  _Cyrus’ chair_ , and before Cyrus could contemplate his next move, he was shoved from behind the bookcase by Andi, who was clearly done with playing hide and seek.

“Hey guys,” Cyrus said, beet-red, and trying to act surprised to see TJ at their table, “what’s going on here? Why are you here? Why are you on my chair?”

“I just came to make peace with Buffy, Underdog. Also, you can have your chair back, I’m off to practice anyway.”

Cyrus silently pouted while TJ was saying his goodbyes to everyone at the table, since he hadn’t gotten the chance to have a conversation with the Slytherin, let alone hang out a bit, like he had hoped. TJ left them, but halted and looked back at Cyrus.

“Cyrus, we’re done with practice in an hour or two. Want to hang out after?”

“Yeah, sure,” a flustered Cyrus said.

“Great! Meet you at the stairs in front of the Great Hall.” TJ said happily, swiftly turning around again and walking out of the library.

“What was  _that_  about, Cyrus?” Buffy asked with a knowing smirk.

“ _Nothing_ ,” Cyrus said sharply, his eyes trained on his half-finished essay, trying his best not to blush.

Buffy and Andi shared a look that spoke a thousand words, Cyrus was furiously scribbling away about the best wand motion to transform a hedgehog into a pincushion, and Jonah was looking between the three of them, absolutely not knowing what was going on.

 

-

 

Cyrus was patiently waiting on the stairs, he got there a little earlier than they were meant to meet, and was so lost in thought that he didn’t see TJ coming up behind him.

“Ready to go, Underdog?”

“Sure,” Cyrus said, scrambling to his feet, “where are we going?”

“The lake maybe? It’s not that cold yet, we can take a walk?”

TJ was dressed in a big grey coat, a pair of jeans and his hair, that was undoubtedly still wet after showering, was concealed by the hat he wore on Friday, which triggered a memory in Cyrus.

“Oh, shit! I still have your hoodie!”

“You know, you can keep it. It looks better on you.” TJ said, walking down the stairs in front of Cyrus, who was trying to squash down the butterflies in his stomach and trailed behind TJ.

“So, you’ve made peace with Buffy?” Cyrus asked, after the boys had left the castle and were walking the trail to the lake. TJ nodded, looking a bit pensive.

“I gave her a peace offering,” he said, “I arranged that Gryffindor and Slytherin can share the Quidditch pitch on Thursdays. We’re going to alternate weeks. Apparently Gryffindor really wanted to train on Thursday, but I booked the pitch before them.”

“That’s really nice of you,” Cyrus smiled up at TJ, who shook his head.

“It’s what needed to be done, you know. After I behaved like a dick.”

“I’m glad you did it,” Cyrus hummed, “Fuck it’s cold.”

He took a pair of gloves from his coat pocket, and put his hood up after he had put them on.

“Look at that,” TJ teased, “the hoodie gnome has returned.”

“Laugh all you want, but my hands and ears are going to be toasty warm, while your ears are going to freeze under that damp hat.”

TJ pulled off his hat and casted a hot-air spell on it, and put it back on his, now dry, hair.

“My ears are just fine, Underdog,” TJ teased, “but maybe my fingers will freeze off.”

The boys walked in silence for a while. The lake was still warmer than the cold winter air, so there was steam ascending from the water. The trees had lost all of their leaves, and Cyrus could see things moving in the Forbidden Forest.

He could feel a foreign pressure to his pinkie. It took him a couple of seconds to realise TJ was brushing their fingers together. Cyrus was convinced that it could be on accident, until TJ swallowed, and hooked their pinkies together. He looked at TJ, but the boy was blushing and looking straight ahead.

The ball was really in his court now.

Cyrus mustered all the courage he could find and slotted the rest of their fingers together, so that they were properly holding hands.

The boys walked around the lake in a pleasant silence, occasionally making comments about something they saw in the woods, or in the lake, or something interesting they had learned the past week.

Cyrus told TJ about the falling star he had seen in Astronomy, and how much he loved Arithmancy this year, while TJ talked about how he was thinking about dropping Divination after next year, because his parents called it true pseudoscience. Neither boy talked about them holding hands, but they only let go of each other when they stepped back inside the castle, just in time for dinner.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it had been a long time since i've had genuine fun writing, but these last two chapters have really been fun for me, and i hope also for you to read.  
> this week i've had a first, [luxyactually](http://luxyactually.tumblr.com/) on tumblr has made [an amazing edit](http://luxyactually.tumblr.com/post/179629683319/mandatory-hogwarts-au-yes-i-fully-believe-that) and i was blown away, nobody has ever done that before and it made me so excited.  
> also, this chapter is a bit short, but it's because it's going to be squashed between two fat ass chapters, so tune in for that next week-ish.  
> i really hope you liked it, leave me a comment to tell me what you think x  
> (also thank u for all the nice things that have already been said about this, i never expected that)


	6. “So… You and me, Underdog?”

“You held hands with TJ? When?” Buffy all but shouted, although the sound was muffled because her mouth was filled with bread.

The Gryffindor table was packed with students eating and talking, and Cyrus had seen it fit to finally inform his friends about what happened between him and TJ. Andi was shining, and Buffy was looking at him with wide eyes, waiting for a response.

“You remember last Sunday, when we were taking a walk? We were walking around the lake, and he hooked our pinkies together, so I just… held his hand I guess,” Cyrus whispered, looking around to see if anyone was paying attention to them, “and please don’t be so fucking loud, Buffy, I think they haven’t heard you in the dungeons.”

“Is that why you guys were so flustered during dinner?” Andi said, recalling how TJ had passed Cyrus a bowl of mashed potatoes and the two had started blushing madly when their hands brushed. The boys had avoided eye-contact with each other for the entire evening, only sneaking glances when they thought the other wasn’t looking.

“Well… Yeah,” Cyrus admitted, who was again turning beet-red, and not looking at his best friends.

“This happened almost a week ago? And you’re only telling us now?” Buffy hissed, stirring her coffee and pointing at Cyrus with her teaspoon, “Bad friend alert.”

“I didn’t want Jonah to know,” Cyrus said, “I don’t know if I’m looking too far into this, you know. Friends can hold hands. We hold hands all the time!”

“You are fucking delusional, Cyrus,” Andi shook her head, “you are _actually_ blind.”

“Don’t bully me,” Cyrus sulked, taking a careful sip of his hot tea.

“Who’s bullying you?” Cyrus turned around to see Jonah and TJ walking towards their table. Jonah settled down next to Andi and immediately stole some of her eggs, before starting to fill up his own plate with whatever was within reach. TJ sat down next to Cyrus and loosely slung an easy arm around his shoulders. Buffy raised her eyebrows, and Andi interrupted her bickering with Jonah to give him a pointed, what-did-I-tell-you stare.

“This doesn’t have to mean anything,” Cyrus mouthed at them, careful not to make a sound and attract the attention of TJ, who was in conversation with Buffy, but still casually had his arm around Cyrus as if it was a normal thing they did all the time.

“You are the biggest idiot. I _cannot_ deal with you right now,” Andi mouthed back, before turning back to Jonah.

“So, Hogsmeade today?” Cyrus asked, addressing the group, “are we all going?”

“I am, but actually have a date.” Buffy said with a small grin.

“What? With who?” Andi and Cyrus said simultaneously.

“Marty from my Quidditch team. We met him at the party in Ravenclaw last year?”

“Hot damn,” Andi smiled at Buffy, “our Buffy’s on the move.”

“Oh, okay, so are we going?” TJ said, motioning to himself, Andi, Jonah and Cyrus with his free arm.

“Sorry pal, Jonah and I already have plans,” Andi said, lathering up her toast with strawberry jam.

“We do?” Jonah asked, looking at Andi, who gave him a hostile stare and jabbed him in the side with the handle of her knife, “I mean, yes, of course we do!”

Cyrus came to the realisation that that left only two. TJ and him.

“So… You and me, Underdog?” TJ said, taking his arm from Cyrus’ shoulders to look at him.

“ _Sure_ ,” Cyrus said, his voice a lot higher than usual, “when are we leaving?”

 

-

 

“I hate winter, it’s so fucking cold and wet all of the time,” Cyrus said, staring down at his wet shoes, pulling his beanie further down on his head and putting his hood up. “Don’t fucking call me the hoodie gnome again.”

“My lips are sealed,” TJ, who was obviously dying to make a hoodie gnome comment, laughed, and walked a bit closer to Cyrus. “Where are Andi and Jonah running off to?”

Andi and Jonah were walking fifty meters in front of them. Andi was dragging a reluctant Jonah along, who obviously didn’t share in Andi’s enthusiasm.

“Madam Puddifoot’s, I’m guessing by Jonah’s expression,” Cyrus cringed at the mention of the tacky pink nightmare that was Madam Puddifoot’s tea room. He’d gone once with Andi and Buffy, and had solemnly swore that he would never set foot in there again.

“What’s wrong with Madam Puddifoot’s?” TJ asked.

“It’s a hot pink hell, filled with hormonal teenagers testing out if they can put their tongue so far down someone’s throat that they’re able to lick their tonsils, and looking for excuses to hold hands. Awful.”

“You don’t think you need an excuse to hold hands?”

“No,” Cyrus said, taking his hands out of his coat pocket to pull his scarf up over his face, “if you want to hold someone’s hand, just take it, it’s not rocket science. If you like them and they like you, holding hands shouldn’t be a big deal. If they don’t like you, they’ll let go soon enough.”

He was happy his scarf hid his blush pretty well, as he was thinking about how they held hands nearly their entire walk last Sunday. He hadn’t given it that much thought but he would really like to hold TJ’s hand again. Even though the weather was awful, TJ’s hand had been warm, and a bit bigger than Cyrus’ own. He couldn’t help but compare it to holding Andi or Buffy’s hand, which were thinner and smaller, and entirely different. Holding hands was an art, he decided.

“Alright Underdog,” TJ gave Cyrus a long look and bumped their shoulders together, “I never would’ve thought you would be so opinionated about handholding.”

“The more you know. What do you want to do once we get there?”

“I don’t know? Maybe warm up with a butterbeer in the Three Broomsticks first?” TJ said, silently putting his arm around Cyrus’ shoulder again, and pulling him a bit closer to his side. Cyrus looked up at TJ, who was visibly nervous, looking straight ahead and not saying anything.

It occurred to Cyrus that TJ was maybe waiting for him to say something about their current situation, or do something to give his okay about it. Maybe he was tired of always making the first move.

When he felt TJ starting to pull back, even a little, he made a rash decision and hooked his own arm around TJ’s waist, and tucked himself even closer to his side. Cyrus physically felt TJ relax under his grip, and he felt a bit light-headed himself as they walked into Hogsmeade village and towards the Three Broomsticks.

When they finally got there, they let go of one another, and Cyrus went to look for a table in the crowded pub, while TJ went up to the bar to order their drinks. Cyrus inspected his surroundings.

Buffy and Marty were also there, sat at a corner table, huddled together over pints of butterbeer. She didn’t seem to notice Cyrus looking, as they were laughing and bickering in their own little world.

Andi and Jonah were nowhere to be found, which made Cyrus think that Andi actually succeeded in dragging Jonah to Madam Puddifoot’s.

The pub was filled to the brim with other Hogwarts students, professors and general strangers who were out on the town for a drink. Cyrus saw Iris and Amber standing in a little huddle with some of their friends and managed an awkward half-wave.

“A butterbeer for the gentleman,” TJ said, putting a big pint of butterbeer down in front of Cyrus, and sitting down on the bench, next to Cyrus, “sorry for the wait, by the way, it was really crowded at the bar.”

“I didn’t have to wait that long, Teej. How much do I owe you?” Cyrus asked, taking a sip of his butterbeer and already feeling warm enough to take off his hood and beanie.

“I’ve got it, Underdog, don’t worry about it.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, of course,” TJ said, taking a sip of his butterbeer, and looking at Cyrus over the rim of his glass.

“Thank you,” Cyrus smiled.

TJ’s hand was on the bench between them, as if it was yelling _take me!_ at Cyrus. He was torn between not having the guts to take TJ’s hand and taking his own advice, so he compromised by hooking their pinkies together, like TJ had done last week. TJ responded by putting his large hand on top of Cyrus’ and intertwining their fingers.

“So…” TJ scraped his throat, “have you started on the Potions essay already?”

“Why is it that you always start to ramble on about homework when we’re alone?” Cyrus laughed, “I’m starting to think you only hang out with me because we’re study buddies.”

“That’s _not_ the reason I hang out with you, trust me,” TJ said. Cyrus blushed and tightened his grip on TJ’s fingers.

“I’m almost finished with my essay,” Cyrus said, taking a big gulp of butterbeer, “we can go over it together sometime.”

“I’d like that, because mine is a right mess.”

“You are a right mess.”

“Shut up, you idiot.”

The boys stayed at their little table for quite some time, laughing and joking around, holding hands and talking about their friends, Quidditch and school, and when they ran out of conventional subjects, they talked about other things.

“Wait, you’re muggleborn?”

“Yeah,” TJ said, rubbing the back of his head, “didn’t you notice?”

“Now that I think about it, it does seem obvious, with your weird games. It’s highly unusual for a muggleborn to be placed in Slytherin, though, maybe that’s why it slipped by me.”

“Yeah, I noticed,” TJ grimaced, absentmindedly rubbing the top op Cyrus’ hand with his thumb and staring off into space, “that’s why I was so grateful to make the Quidditch team second year. It made me fit in just a little more, you know.”

It dawned on Cyrus that it couldn’t have been easy for TJ, being a muggleborn in Slytherin House, which still held their bad reputation of blood purity, even after the war.

“I played basketball at home,” TJ continued, holding his pint of butterbeer without drinking from it, “I must be so out of shape by now, not having played in four years.”

Cyrus would consider TJ anything but out of shape.

“What’s basketball? Is it like Quidditch?”

TJ snorted and looked at Cyrus.

“Not at all. No muggle sport is anything like Quidditch.”

“How do you play basketball?” Cyrus asked. His interest had always been piqued by muggle stuff. He had not taken up Muggle Studies last year, but had regretted it immensely.

“Alright, in very, _very_ basic terms, you have two teams,” TJ explained, drawing out what he was telling Cyrus with his hand in the air, “you play with one ball. You’re not really allowed to hold the ball, you have to dribble it on the ground. You try to get the ball on the other side of the court and throw it in the other team’s hoop. That’s making a basket.”

“Seems simple enough.”

“I’m not explaining all of the rules to you, Underdog, but it’s complicated enough.”

“It seems kind of similar to Quidditch, though. You both have hoops, you know.”

“Oh yeah, you’re absolutely right,” TJ said sarcastically, “Quidditch is basketball on broomsticks, you got me.”

“Which one do you like best?” Cyrus asked, genuinely curious.

“I don’t know. I grew up with basketball, you see, but flying makes me feel so free, as if I can do anything,” TJ sat up straight, looking at Cyrus with a twinkle in his eye, indicating that the serious conversation was over, “speaking of flying, when is your next lesson?”

“Let’s settle for never,” Cyrus laughed, downing the last bit of his butterbeer, “where are we going next?”

“Honeydukes, maybe?”

“Now you’re talking.”

Cyrus bought a liquorice wand for Walker, who was sick in bed, and some pink coconut ice for himself. TJ picked up some cauldron cakes and chocolate frogs and protested heavily when Cyrus insisted on paying for it.

 

-

 

The boys sauntered through the streets of Hogsmeade, occasionally entering a store and snooping around.

“So… What do we do now?”

“I don’t know,” Cyrus said, muffled by the scarf in front of his face. He looked out at the steady stream of students walking back to the castle and realised that he didn’t want to go back just yet. “We can take a walk to the Shrieking Shack?”

“ _You_ of all people wants to take a long walk? Don’t you turn into a little popsicle when exposed to cold weather for all but zero point two seconds?”

“Don’t be mean,” Cyrus pouted, realising that he would indeed just bitch about the cold for the entire walk, “we could get another butterbeer? We only have an hour until dinner anyway. Do you have an alternative?" 

“We can always go to the tea room you hate. It’s right over there.” TJ motioned to the tea room, which indeed was within a hundred meters from them.

“Shut up, you asshole."

“Alright, butterbeer it is, you feisty little gnome,” TJ said, laughing and swinging their intertwined hands between them.

“Stop with that nickname!” Cyrus yelled, letting go of TJ’s hand and shoving him, laughing when TJ almost slipped on the wet street, and running away to escape the inevitable revenge, after it was clear TJ was fine, “oh my god, TJ, I’m so sorry.”

“Does the hoodie gnome want a race?” TJ laughed, running after Cyrus, both boys occasionally losing their footing on the wet cobblestone.

“Stop bullying me!” Cyrus cried, breaking into sprint after he noticed how fast TJ was gaining on him.

“Make me!” TJ said, also breaking into sprint.

Suddenly Cyrus felt familiar hands enclose around his waist, pull him to a halt and turn him around. Both boys dissolved into laughter after the sudden interruption of their little race. Cyrus, who lost his balance, hooked his arms around TJ’s neck in an awkward embrace, to both steady himself and also, if he was being honest, to have an excuse to hold onto TJ for just a little bit longer.

“Got you,” TJ whispered, startled by how close they were suddenly standing.

The boys were looking at each other, the world around them fading away for a moment. Cyrus was freaking out, because he was pretty sure they were about to kiss, and didn’t even stop to think for a moment about how ironic it was that their first kiss would happen right in front of Madam Puddifoot’s.

Both boys were frozen, not able to bring up the guts to just go for it. 

Cyrus decided to be brave. He only really needed five seconds of pure courage to do it, to actually kiss TJ, like he’d been wanting to do all day. He moved one of the hands that were hooked around TJ's neck, playing a bit with the soft hair at the nape of his neck.

For a while neither of them moved, or said anything, seemingly content with just standing there, looking at each other. TJ removed one of his hands from Cyrus’ waist to pull the scarf that was obscuring Cyrus’ face down, instead placing his hand on Cyrus’ face and softly rubbing his thumb up and down his cheek.

Cyrus could feel TJ leaning down a bit, while he pushed up on his tiptoes, trying to meet in the middle. Cyrus could feel TJ’s forehead touching his, some stray hairs that came out from under TJ’s hood tickling him softly, and them brushing noses, slow and so, so tender. It almost seemed slow-motion, Cyrus thought, too perfect to be real.

“Look Andi, it’s Cyrus and TJ!”

Jonah’s voice was sharp and loud, and cut through their magical moment, as if it were a knife cutting through a soft slab of butter.

They jumped apart at record speed, as if the other was a fire and they were trying not to burn. Andi looked absolutely gobsmacked, her mouth dropped open in surprise and shocked. Jonah on the other hand was wearing a standard Jonah Beck grin, that only ever so slightly faltered when he seemed to realise that he was intruding.

“Did we interrupt something?” Jonah asked. Cyrus shook his head no, pointedly not looking anyone in the eye, but rather examining the sign of the tea shop, and how the paint was clearly wearing off and practically begging for another coat, when he answered Jonah.

“No, we were just heading to the Three Broomsticks to have another butterbeer to warm up a bit before we go back to the castle.”

“Oh sick,” Andi said, clearly trying to break the tension, “let’s all go together, I could go for a butterbeer. The scones in here are so dry.”

The four were walking to the pub in a rather comfortable, but still quite awkward silence, save for one remark made by Jonah about how they were representing _all_ Hogwarts houses, just walking there together, that was met by half-hearted laughter. Andi and Jonah were walking in front of them, not looking back, obviously trying to give them their privacy.

Cyrus and TJ were walking together, shoulder to shoulder. Cyrus hooked their pinkies together again, feeling giddy about their almost-kiss, and trying desperately to not make it awkward between them.

TJ smiled, looking down at him and slotted their fingers together again, like they had done so many times that day, and gently squeezing Cyrus’ hand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> alright - it's been a fat while, but my life has been quite busy. I'm posting this in anticipation of the GUN EPISODE, i'm really fucking excited!! aaah!! i hope you like this chapter. It was originally like, twice as long, but I decided to split it up, so you can expect that some time next week.  
> Hope you like this!  
> please let me know what you thought of it in the comments xx  
> (also, edit: !dumb bitch alert! i closed the wrong fucking ask blog, so on the off chance you visited my blog and wanted to say hi, now it's actually possible. Also, leave prompts for me to write because i am a dumb bitch! who doesn't want to think of concepts on my own x)


	7. "Is this the moment that we kiss?"

“I can’t believe you did that, Jonah,” Buffy wheezed, spilling her pumpkin juice all over the table because she was shaking so hard, “that’s actually the funniest thing I’ve ever heard in my entire life.”

“Don’t make a mess, Buffy! Mind where you’re fucking spilling your juice, will you? _Evanesco._ ” Andi said, ridding the table, and her sleeve of Buffy’s pumpkin juice.

“ _Yes mum._ You have to admit it’s hilarious, though, Andi.”

“Shut up!” Andi said, “it was actually so embarrassing.”

Cyrus pouted, sadly stabbing his stew with his fork. Even though he had tried so hard to not make it awkward, TJ had politely declined Andi’s offer to sit with them at dinner, instead opting to sit with his Quidditch buddies, parting from Cyrus by lightly squeezing his hand.

“I didn’t mean to ruin the moment, you know!” Jonah yelled, looking red in the face, “I just saw them and _obviously_ didn’t realise what they were doing.”

“No hard feelings, Jonah,” Cyrus sighed, “I don’t think I wanted you two to witness our first kiss anyway.”

He looked over his shoulder at the Slytherin table, where TJ was talking to the Quidditch captain. TJ looked up and winked at Cyrus when they made eye contact, making Cyrus blush and turn back around.

“How cute,” Buffy teased, “look at you, suddenly _so_ shy.”

“Leave him alone, Buffy,” Andi pursed her lips in disapproval, “let’s not tease Cyrus about how Jonah and I ruined his date, that’s not fair.”

“It wasn’t really a date. Also you didn’t ruin it. Also, Buffy, shut up.” Cyrus said, kicking Buffy under the table.

“It _so_ was a date, Cyrus.”

“Why don’t you tell us about _your_ date, Buffy,” Cyrus shot back, swiftly changing the centre of attention from him to Buffy, “you two looked very cosy in the Three Broomsticks.”

“I had a great time.” Buffy huffed, clearly unfazed by Cyrus’ attempt to throw her off her rhythm, “We’re going to study together in the library tomorrow.”

“But, I thought _we_ were studying together tomorrow.” Cyrus said, furrowing his brows.

“Well…” Buffy said, smiling at Cyrus, “why don’t you bring the boyfriend?”

“He’s not my boyfriend!”

“Yet.” Andi said, expertly dodging the cooked potato Cyrus threw at her head. “No need for aggression, young man.”

“Alright mum.”

Buffy was about to say something when her eyes drifted over to the Slytherin table. Her face lit up and she kicked Cyrus back.

“ _Fuck, Buffy_! Why was that necessary?”

“He’s leaving his friends, Cy,” Buffy smiled, pointing to the Slytherin table with her fork. Cyrus looked over his shoulder, and indeed, a flustered looking TJ had left his table, and was walking towards them with big, confident strides while looking straight at Cyrus. “He’s coming over here, Cyrus.”

“Don’t embarrass me,” Cyrus hissed through his teeth, before pretending to be shocked when TJ squeezed between him and Jonah on the bench. “TJ! What a surprise!”

Buffy snorted into her glass of pumpkin juice, nearly spilling it all over again. Andi jabbed her in the side with her elbow, making Buffy double over in a strange combination of laughter and pain.

“So, how has your day been, TJ?” Jonah said, in a failed attempt to try to casually include TJ in their conversation. Unfortunately it was said in a completely unnatural way, as if he was reading a cue card, which made Buffy double over in laughter all over again.

TJ raised his eyebrows, briefly touching Cyrus’ knee under the table and winking at him, “Why Jonah, I had a great time today, thanks for asking.”

“Yeah, I bet you did,” Buffy said, swiftly leaning out of Andi’s elbow range, “tell us about it, TJ.”

“Shut up, Buffy!” Cyrus said, trying to kick her again, but she had foreseen Cyrus’ next move and had pulled her legs up on the bench.

“You missed!”

“Shut it.”

TJ laughed out loud, discreetly putting his hand on the bench, searching for Cyrus’ hand and intertwining their fingers once he found it. He leaned back and whispered in Cyrus’ ear.

“Do you want to take a walk around the lake when you’re all finished here?”

If their friends even noticed, they didn’t say anything about it.

 

-

 

“That was so embarrassing,” Cyrus complained, walking out of the castle with TJ, holding each other’s gloved hands, “Buffy was truly having the time of her life.”

TJ gasped. “A tragedy.”

“Shut up,” Cyrus laughed, lightly swinging their hands between them. The grounds were covered by a thin layer of frost and the trees had lost all of their leaves. He wondered how the magical creatures in the Forbidden Forest were holding up during Winter.

Cyrus readjusted the scarf he was wearing, so it was covering his face to protect it from the cold, and cutting blasts of wind that were terrorizing the Hogwarts grounds. TJ was walking close to him, and that helped against the cold, since the boy was so warm he could easily double as a stove.

“Aren’t you cold,” TJ teased, lightly shoving Cyrus.

“Hmm?” Cyrus made a noise, scrunching up his nose at TJ, “Yes, I am cold, why?”

“You were so silent, I haven’t heard you complain a single time since we started walking.”

“I don’t complain _that_ much,” Cyrus protested.

“All you do is complain.”

Cyrus shoved TJ back, and a lot harder than he had been shoved. TJ slipped a little bit, snorted and untangled his hand from Cyrus’, slinging an arm around his shoulders.

Cyrus looked up to find TJ’s face a lot closer than it had been before, with it suddenly being _right_ next to Cyrus’ face. He slowly, but deliberately pushed himself up on his toes and placed a small kiss on TJ’s jaw.

TJ tried not to act surprised, but quickly turned red and tightened his grip on Cyrus.

“What was that for?”

“I don’t know, I just wanted to,” Cyrus mumbled, looking down at the ground.

TJ audibly laughed and turned Cyrus around so they were facing each other once again. Cyrus felt TJ’s gloved hand tilt his chin upwards, forcing him to look up at the Slytherin, who was looking down at him with an indecipherable look.

TJ removed the scarf obscuring Cyrus’ face before slowly bending down a bit and deliberately kissing Cyrus on the corner of his mouth.

TJ pulled back, just a little bit, to scoop out Cyrus’ reaction and after, to rub their frozen noses together. Cyrus looked at him with big eyes, searching for TJ’s other hand that wasn’t holding his face in place, immediately interlocking their fingers, and holding on to him like as if he was a lifeline.

“Is this the moment that we kiss?” Cyrus squeaked, looking up at TJ, who laughed once again, looking down at him with so much fondness that Cyrus was having trouble breathing.

“I don’t know, Underdog, do you want me to?”

“Yes, _please_.”

And just like that, TJ bent down once again and pressed his lips against Cyrus’, letting go of Cyrus’ hand to hold his face in both hands, as if Cyrus was something precious that was to be protected at all costs. The kiss was soft, warm and sure, as if it was something they had already done a thousand times.

“Is this alright for you?” TJ whispered, pulling back.

“Please,” Cyrus nodded vigorously, before diving back in himself, slinging his arms around TJ’s neck and pulling him impossibly close, their bodies flushed against each other.

He could practically feel the electricity in the air, as their lips touched again, and again, and again. Cyrus tangled his fingers in TJ’s hair, just as he pulled back for a bit, looking at TJ, trying to regain control over the situation.

TJ looked incredibly dishevelled, his lips red from kissing and his hair messed up from Cyrus’ fingers that had been running through it.

 _Fuck it_ , Cyrus decided. He didn’t want to be in control. He pushed up to his toes once again and pressed their lips together, determined to kiss TJ as much as possible, now that he was finally _really_ allowed to touch, and kiss.

They kissed, so soft, and slow, like everything Cyrus had imagined kissing TJ would be like, and they kissed for a while, before finally stopping, holding hands as they walked around the lake and back to the castle.

TJ held onto Cyrus’ hand as if he was not planning on ever letting go of him again, and Cyrus was happy to go along, clinging to TJ, occasionally stopping in his tracks and tilting his head upwards to silently ask for a kiss.

 

-

 

They arrived back in the castle, a few minutes before curfew. TJ walked Cyrus to the Hufflepuff Common Room, both boys stopping in front of the door, not really willing to let go just yet.

TJ wrapped his arms around Cyrus, and kissed the top of his head, as Cyrus snuggled into his shoulder. He tilted his head upwards, and like he had done at least five times already, TJ bent his head and kissed him, open-mouthed and firm.

“A proper good-night kiss, like in the movies,” TJ whispered, kissing the tip of Cyrus’ nose, “I’ll see you tomorrow at breakfast.”

Cyrus watched him leave, before entering his common room, and walking towards his dormitory.

He didn’t stop to say hi to any of his roommates, but looked around in his trunk for a couple of minutes, before he found TJ’s big, faded blue hoodie, he had given him weeks ago on the Quidditch field.

He put it on, and went to bed, content, completely engulfed in the scent and memory of TJ, but lying awake for what felt like hours, reminiscing and smiling about his perfect day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tam tam taaaaaam, the kiss is finally here!  
> did you like it? I really hope you did.  
> I've been working on my exams non stop the past month, but finally finished this chapter up, and i really like it  
> please let me know what you think in the comments, i love reading what people think :)  
> you can find me on tumblr, at [nineteenohtwo](https://nineteenohtwo.tumblr.com/), come say hi, if you'd like, my prompts are always open :)


	8. Epilogue

“And Kippen caught the snitch! Slytherin wins!”

“FUCK!”

“Jesus Cyrus, keep it down,” Andi said, putting her hand over her ears, nearly smearing the yellow paint on her right cheek. “You are seriously damaging my hearing.”

“You have to forgive him, he made a bet with TJ and just lost,” Buffy said to Andi, and then turned to address Cyrus, “and _you_ should’ve known not to bet on Hufflepuff, because your team _fucking_ sucks.”

“Ooh, a bet?” Jonah said, leaning back in his chair so he could look at Cyrus, “what’s the bet about?”

“Just a couple of galleons,” Cyrus mumbled, starting to get up out of his seat, “and I have to let him take the lead with the next potion we make, and I hate letting him take the lead.”

“Kinky.”

“Shut the fuck up, Jonah.”

 

-

 

Cyrus rushed off the stairs in front of his friends, running onto the pitch and towards TJ, who was clearly waiting for him. He forgot about the bet in an instant when he ran into TJ’s open arms, and almost tackling him. By the force of a miracle, TJ managed to stay upright, and hugged Cyrus so tight that his feet came up from the ground.

Cyrus felt TJ’s heart beat like crazy and buried his fingers in TJ’s sweaty hair, ignoring the smell of sweat and grass that came off of TJ.

“You stink.”

“Thanks love, that’s really what I want to hear after a match.”

“I’m sorry,” Cyrus pulled back so he could kiss him tenderly, “you killed it on the pitch. You’re great. I love you.”

“I love you too.”

Cyrus stepped back a bit to give TJ some space and tried to let go off him, but TJ didn’t let that happen, pulling Cyrus back to him.

“Why are you leaving me?” TJ whined, “I just won a match.”

“Don’t you want to go celebrate with your team?”

“No, I want to stay with you.”

“You’re cute and all, but we want to head back to the castle, are you guys coming?” Andi yelled, “We’re freezing!”

Cyrus and TJ smiled at each other, intertwining their fingers and walking over to their friends, feeling both completely at ease and more alive than they had ever felt.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> uhm, thank you so much if you made it this far and read this entire fic. i can't believe i actually finished something  
> i hope you enjoyed it, and enjoyed this tiny epilogue, i wanted to wrap it up and there's so much i could, and still can write about in this universe, but i'm going to leave it at this, so i'm not overstretching the plot and bringing in nonsensical plot lines
> 
> it's my first fanfiction after a four year break and getting into the flow of writing is hard, but this fic has made me excited to create again, and it's absolutely not my best work, but i'm improving and trying and i love it
> 
> thank you for your comments, your asks, your kudo's, etc, it meant, and still means the world to me how much support this got, so damn quickly
> 
> i've written three other one-shots, and i'm writing a road trip fic if you would want to read some more of my stuff
> 
> please come say hi on tumblr [nineteenohtwo](https://nineteenohtwo.tumblr.com/), my prompts are always open, or say hi on here, that's also always nice
> 
> peace out,  
> Ellie x

**Author's Note:**

> Phew. It’s been a fat while since I have written anything, but this ship gave me a sudden burst of inspiration.  
> I will try to update this regularly, but I am really shit with deadlines, so sorry if I am a bit late. I do plan on finishing this.  
> If you have any writing suggestions leave them below, because I have been in writer’s block since 2015.  
> I really hope you like it!  
> EDIT: forgot to say this but the title is a part of a quote from a play by Oscar Wilde who is my most favourite author ever, the entire quote is: "No, we are all in the gutter but some of us are looking at the stars"
> 
> Cyrus is in Hufflepuff, Andi is in Ravenclaw , Jonah and Buffy are in Gryffindor and TJ is in Slytherin.
> 
> come say hi on tumblr:  
> [nineteenohtwo](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/nineteenohtwo)


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